2012 Bahrain Grand Prix

 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix

Racing data
4th of 20 races of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Date:	April 22, 2012
Place:	as-Sachir
Course:	Bahrain International Circuit
Length:	308.238 km in 57 laps of 5.412 km
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 32.422 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 36.379 min (lap 41)
Podium
First:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault
Third:	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault

The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix took place on April 22nd at the Bahrain International Circuit in as-Sachir and was the fourth race of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

Dispute about the event

Protesters at a demonstration against the Grand Prix

The implementation of this race was heavily criticized in some cases and the race weekend was accompanied by protests against the event, as the unrest in Bahrain , due to which the Grand Prix was canceled last year, continued. There were clashes between the security forces and demonstrators during the race weekend. On April 21, 2012, after another riot, a dead person was found; the circumstances of death are still unclear.

Another cancellation of the event was u. a. Demanded by numerous human rights organizations and opposition activists. A few days before the race, however, it was finally confirmed.

FIA President Jean Todt criticized the media for their one-sided coverage of the Grand Prix. He said that protests are normal occurrences in a democracy and occur all over the world. He assumes that only a minority will rebel against the current rulers.

Sporty

After the Chinese Grand Prix , Lewis Hamilton led the drivers' standings with 2 points ahead of Jenson Button and 8 points ahead of Fernando Alonso . McLaren-Mercedes led the constructors' championship with 24 points ahead of Red Bull-Renault and with 51 points ahead of Ferrari .

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with the tire compounds P Zero Medium (white) and P Zero Soft (yellow), as well as Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue) for wet conditions .

The Bahrain Grand Prix returned to the racing calendar in 2012. In 2011 it was canceled due to political unrest . After the last Bahrain Grand Prix in 2010 took place on the Endurance Circuit variant of the Bahrain International Circuit , the Grand Prix Circuit variant was used again this year .

With Fernando Alonso (three times), Felipe Massa (twice), Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher (once each), all former winners of this Grand Prix competed.

Garry Connelly (AUS), Radovan Novak (CZE) and Emanuele Pirro (ITA) acted as race stewards .

training

In the first free practice, Hamilton posted the fastest lap ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta . Valtteri Bottas took over the Williams from Bruno Senna in this training session . During this training, Nico Rosberg collided with a bird at a speed of around 200 km / h. His helmet remained undamaged and Rosberg did not suffer any injuries. In the second free practice, Rosberg was the fastest driver ahead of Mark Webber and Vettel. Force India decided to skip practice and leave the track early. An incident occurred on the Wednesday before the race in which some Force India team members got into a riot. In the third free practice session, Rosberg kept the lead. Vettel was second ahead of Webber.

Qualifying

The Marussia (front) and HRT (rear) pilots again made up the last four positions among themselves

Sergio Pérez posted the fastest lap in the first section of qualifying . The HRT and Marussia pilots as well as Vitali Petrow , Jean-Éric Vergne and Schumacher were eliminated. Schumacher had problems with the Drag Reduction System (DRS). In the second section, Hamilton was the fastest pilot. The Williams drivers as well as Heikki Kovalainen , Massa, Nico Hülkenberg , Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Räikkönen were eliminated. With that eight teams reached the last segment. In this Vettel finally drove the fastest time and achieved his first pole position of the 2012 season ahead of Hamilton and his team-mate Webber.

Due to gear changes, Pastor Maldonado and Schumacher were moved five positions back.

run

The field shortly after the start

Vettel kept the lead ahead of Hamilton and Webber at the start. Romain Grosjean improved to fourth, Alonso to fifth. Button was in sixth place ahead of Raikkonen and Massa, who had a good start. Daniel Ricciardo did not have a good start, losing eleven positions on the first lap. Kovalainen damaged a rear tire on the first lap and had to pit for a repair stop.

Paul di Resta was the only driver to use a two-stop strategy and finally finished in sixth place

In the first laps of the race, Vettel managed to break away from the rest of the field. In the next few rounds there were several duels in the front part of the field. First, Massa overtook Raikkonen, who in turn countered two laps later, overtook Massa back and then passed Alonso. Grosjean, meanwhile, made up two positions. First he overtook Webber, then Hamilton.

The first pit stop phase began on the seventh lap. Hamilton had problems with his pit stop and fell behind Webber and Alonso, who were in the pit at the same time. He was also behind Rosberg, but overtook him with a tough maneuver. While Hamilton's team-mate Button overtook Alonso, Vettel pitted and passed the lead to di Resta, who was leading a Formula 1 race for the first time. However, Vettel overtook him shortly afterwards.

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel led the Grand Prix almost consistently

After the first pit-stop phase, Vettel led by about five seconds over Grosjean. Behind was Raikkonen, who, in contrast to the two leading drivers, used the softer tire compound. He caught up with Grosjean and finally drove past his teammate.

Shortly afterwards, the second pit stop phase began. Again the first three pilots switched to different mixes. Grosjean and Räikkönen opted for the harder version, Vettel for the softer version. At Hamilton, the stop was again not ideal. In the meantime, Charles Pic and Maldonado had left with technical problems.

The winner Sebastian Vettel at the award ceremony

While Massa put pressure on his team-mate Alonso, Raikkonen caught up with Vettel at the top. With the help of the drag reduction system , he managed to get closer to Vettel. On lap 36 he attempted an overtaking maneuver on the start-finish straight, but withdrew. A few laps later, both pilots came to the pits for their final stop. Vettel stayed ahead of Raikkonen. Grosjean, who drove his first lead lap in Formula 1, was in the lead for a short time.

After the pit stop, Vettel extended the lead over Raikkonen. Grosjean was about ten seconds behind Vettel. Shortly before the end of the race, Button had a puncture that forced him to make another pit stop. However, he did not achieve the goal, as he gave up shortly afterwards with another technical problem. However, like Senna, who retired shortly before the end of the race, he was classified.

Vettel finally won his first Formula 1 Grand Prix of the season ahead of Raikkonen and Grosjean. It was Raikkonen's first podium finish after his return to Formula 1. It was Grosjean's first ever podium finish. Webber finished fourth, Rosberg fifth.

Di Resta was the only driver to use a two-stop strategy and thus achieved sixth place. The remaining points went to Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Schumacher. It was Massa's first points of the season.

In the drivers' world championship, Vettel took over the lead from Hamilton, who fell back to second place ahead of Webber. In the constructors' category, Red Bull took first place from McLaren, who were in second place. Lotus improved to third place.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Red Bull Racing	01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB8	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	02	Mark Webber
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	03	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-27	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	04th	Lewis Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari	05	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F2012	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	06th	Felipe Massa
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes F1 W03	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	08th	Nico Rosberg
Lotus F1 Team	09	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus E20	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	10	Romain Grosjean
Sahara Force India F1 Team	11	Paul di Resta	Force India VJM05	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	12	Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber F1 Team	14th	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean C31	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	15th	Sergio Perez
Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso STR7	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	17th	Jean-Éric Vergne
Williams F1 team	18th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	19th	Valtteri Bottas
		Bruno Senna
Caterham F1 team	20th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham CT01	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	21st	Vitaly Petrov
HRT F1 team	22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT F112	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	23	Narain Karthikeyan
Marussia F1 Team	24	Timo Glock	Marussia MR01	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	25th	Charles Pic

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Bottas drove the Williams with the number 19 in the first free practice. Senna then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 34.308	1: 33.527	1: 32.422	01
02	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 34.813	1: 33.209	1: 32.520	02
03	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 34.015	1: 33.311	1: 32.637	03
04th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 34.792	1: 33.416	1: 32.711	04th
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 34.588	1: 33.219	1: 32.821	05
06th	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 33.988	1: 33.556	1: 32.912	06th
07th	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	1: 34.041	1: 33.246	1: 33.008	07th
08th	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	1: 33.814	1: 33.660	1: 33.394	08th
09	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1: 34.760	1: 33.403	no time	09
10	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1: 34.624	1: 33.510	no time	10
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	1: 34.552	1: 33.789	-	11
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 34.131	1: 33.806	-	12
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 34.601	1: 33.807	-	13
14th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 34.372	1: 33.912	-	14th
15th	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1: 34.466	1: 34.017	-	15th
16	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1: 34.852	1: 36.132	-	16
17th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1: 34.639	no time	-	21st
18th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 34.865	-	-	22nd
19th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 35.014	-	-	17th
20th	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1: 35.823	-	-	18th
21st	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 37.683	-	-	19th
22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1: 37.883	-	-	20th
23	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 37.905	-	-	23
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1: 38.314	-	-	24
107 percent time : 1: 40.380 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 33.814 min)

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} racing cars with KERS
2. ↑ Pastor Maldonado was moved five positions back because of a gear change.
3. ↑ Michael Schumacher was moved five positions back because of a gear change.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	57	3	1: 35: 10.990	01	1: 36.379 (41.)
02	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	57	3	+ 3.333	11	1: 37.116 (41.)
03	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	57	3	+ 10.194	07th	1: 36.928 (42nd)
04th	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	57	3	+ 38.788	03	1: 37.437 (45th)
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	57	3	+ 55,460	05	1: 38.080 (41st)
06th	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	57	2	+ 57.543	10	1: 38.372 (41.)
07th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	3	+ 57.803	09	1: 38.203 (44.)
08th	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	57	3	+ 58.984	02	1: 37.733 (38th)
09	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	3	+1: 04.999	14th	1: 38.123 (42nd)
10	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	57	3	+1: 11.490	22nd	1: 38.128 (39.)
11	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	57	3	+1: 12.702	08th	1: 38,146 (39.)
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	57	3	+1: 16.539	13	1: 38.312 (46.)
13	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	57	3	+1: 30.334	12	1: 36,700 (54th)
14th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	57	3	+1: 33.723	17th	1: 37.058 (43rd)
15th	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	3	+ 1 lap	06th	1: 37.903 (42.)
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	56	3	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 38,305 (42nd)
17th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	56	4th	+ 1 lap	16	1: 38,441 (43rd)
18th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	55	4th	DNF	04th	1: 38.046 (47th)
19th	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	55	3	+ 2 rounds	23	1: 40.323 (46.)
20th	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	55	3	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 40.237 (41.)
21st	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	55	4th	+ 2 rounds	24	1: 39.747 (48th)
22nd	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	54	3	DNF	15th	1: 38.087 (51st)
-	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	25th	2	DNF	21st	1: 39.876 (14th)
-	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	24	1	DNF	19th	1: 41.519 (14.)

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} racing cars with KERS

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 53 02  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 49 03  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 48 04th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 43 05  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 43 06th  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 35 07th  Kimi Raikkonen Lotus Renault 34 08th  Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 23 09  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 22nd 10  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 15th 11  Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 14th 12  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 9

Item driver constructor Points 13  Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th 14th  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 4th 15th  Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 16  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 2 17th  Felipe Massa Ferrari 2 18th  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 2 19th  Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 0 20th  Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 0 21st  Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 0 22nd  Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 0 23  Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 0 24  Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Red Bull-Renault 101 02  McLaren-Mercedes 92 03  Lotus Renault 57 04th  Ferrari 45 05  Mercedes 37 06th  Clean Ferrari 31

Item constructor Points 07th  Williams-Renault 18th 08th  Force India-Mercedes 17th 09  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6th 10  Marussia-Cosworth 0 11  Caterham-Renault 0 12  HRT-Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Next Protests in Bahrain - Criticism of Formula 1 , Zeit Online from April 21, 2012
2. ↑ ^{a b} Controversial Formula 1 race: First death in protests in Bahrain , Spiegel Online from April 21, 2012
3. ^ GP Bahrain 2012: dispute over cancellation escalated , auto-motor-und-sport.de from April 11, 2012; Accessed April 22, 2012
4. ↑ Despite concerns from Amnesty International: Formula 1 bosses decide: Bahrain race takes place , Focus Online from April 13, 2012; Accessed April 22, 2012
5. ^ "Bahrain-Grand-Prix: Todt criticizes the media" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 21, 2012)
6. ↑ “Pirelli with racing premiere in Bahrain” (Motorsport-Total.com on April 18, 2012)
7. ^ "GP Bahrain in Manama / 1st free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 20, 2012)
8. ↑ "Shock for Rosberg: Bird slams against the helmet". Motorsport-Total.com, April 21, 2012, accessed June 10, 2012 . 
9. ^ "GP Bahrain in Manama / 2nd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 20, 2012)
10. ↑ "Force India waives the second free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 20, 2012)
11. ^ "GP Bahrain in Manama / 3rd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 21, 2012)
12. ^ "Change of gearbox at Pastor Maldonado" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 21, 2012)
13. ↑ "Schumacher: Five Positions Down" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 22, 2012)

Web links

Commons : Bahrain Grand Prix 2012  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com